Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois
I am renting an apartment in central Illinois. I met one individual throughout the whole process. This individual was always the one at the office; he showed me the apartment and signed my lease. Soon after moving into the apartment, I encountered a leak under the sink (it occurred every time I used the sink, making it unusable) that seemed to have gone on for quite some time before I moved in, causing damage to the floor. In the shower, there was evidence of mold and the grout had cracked between tiles, allowing water to seep through. I am very concerned about mold in both locations. I called in these maintenance issues on the 22nd of September and continued calling for the next two weeks. I finally sent a certified letter outlining the issues and desired repairs. I have not received any recognition of that letter. I contacted my local code enforcement department, and they have already sent an inspector and issued an order for repairs. I should note, I never received any phone calls in return or acknowledgement of my letter, though they did cash my rent check.
I finally made contact to the office (to the same individual that rented the apartment) by making a phone call on the 10th of October, weeks after the initial request. I had been unable to use my kitchen sink and was fearful of the mold potential.
After the chance call to the "landlord", he came out that day to evaluate the situation. I informed him of the actions I had taken with the city. I also called the city inspector, who wanted to come out and physically deliver the orders for repairs to the "landlord" because they had prior encounters with the agency that were not stellar. The inspector arrived with another inspector and they attempted to deliver the papers. He refused to accept the papers, stating, "I am not an employee of (the rental agency)". He is the nephew of another man who is the supposed owner of the rental agency, though he and I had never met. I was under the assumption that the the same person who had shown the apartment, done the paperwork and signed the lease was the landlord, or at least had the authority to lease the apartment.
I need to know if any of these circumstances (the 3-week delay in even communicating, let alone solving, the repair issues or the fact that he has claimed not to be an employee of the company) allows me to legally break my lease. I have tried researching and have also tried obtaining legal assistance for low-income individuals, as I am a recent college graduate with loans and a small paycheck, but I do not qualify. Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
"Central" Illinois: Champaign has some protections for student-tenants. Other college towns don't unless they have their own ordinances. If you have a written lease, and there is a student legal service, you should have the lawyer look at it. If not but there's a legal clinic in town, maybe someone can look at your lease there. If not, you may have to pay for some help or run the risk of doing the wrong thing. If there's a law school affiliated with you college, they may have a legal clinic. Someone needs to review your lease and the facts you've presented.
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